A Spiritual Reflection for September 11, 2018

BY THE REV. SHIRLEY SMITH GRAHAM

We all remember.

Even if we weren’t yet born, we remember because people we love remember the day, 9/11. I remember it as a shaking. Seven miles away from the Pentagon, I was working on my thesis in seminary, and the impact of the airplane shook the library windows. We knew, then, something was wrong.

How big the problem was kept expanding as the day went on, as we estimated the number of people dead and missing, the people who couldn’t get home, the kids whose parents wouldn’t be coming home, the people who couldn’t be home because they worked in public safety or, as clergy, were on 24x7 just to help people cope.

And the expanding awareness of how at war we’d been with an enemy many of us didn’t know hated us. We began to confront the ethical problem of being implicated in things we individually may not have realized we had a part in.

The bigness of the problem of ongoing war continued to show itself and does so still today. In 2014, I was helping a couple prepare for their wedding, but we couldn’t get to wedding planning without first dealing with this Marine’s grief -- his inability to shake the responsibility he still felt for his unit, even though they’d been home for a good, long while.

We all remember. We are forever changed. But, as the beautiful prayer reminds us, life is changed but not ended – in death, but even in life. We are people of the resurrection, not just after our mortal death but now. Hope is the thing with feathers - that perches in the soul - and sings the tune without the words - and never stops - at all.

It is Christ who has been singing in our hearts all along, even when we cannot make our minds work to recall the words of the song. It is Christ who gives us courage to believe in something beyond our ability to manufacture: healing and peace.

As we remember those who died on 9/11/2001, and pray for those who love them, we pray also for those torn apart by war and those who fight to build peace here and abroad. We pray for our friends, we pray for our enemies, and dare to hope for the day we will see the face of Christ in each other.


Philippians 4:4-9

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, beloved whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Helping hope shine through

Teach children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it. - Proverbs 22:6

For many years, Christ Church has been in partnership with George Mason Elementary School in historic Church Hill and we work together to support this school in a variety of ways. Thanks to your overwhelming generosity, we just supplied a carload of new school supplies to GMES that will be distributed tomorrow to many smiling faces.

Before & After: new curtains helping hope shine through!

Richmond Public Schools serve the most distressed portion of our metropolitan city’s school-aged population and have fewer resources to put into their schools. George Mason Elementary School, in particular, is in a state of devastating disrepair. CCE member Kim Scharf visited GMES today to give a very special gift -- beautiful hand-made curtains to decorate the teacher's lounge. This outward sign of our support of this special school and God's love for the entire GMES community is an act of radical hospitality.

 Prayer for the Beginning of the School Year

Dear God, We pray  for all teachers, administrators, and students. Keep them safe and well. Open their hearts and minds to a world of learning, and may this be the first of thousands of days in which they know the depth of your love and constancy of your care. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

"I am about to do a new thing..."

The CARITAS Center
an update and reflection by Jenni Pandak


CARITAS is Richmond’s largest emergency shelter, housing up to 110 people per night, and more than 1,000 people annually. They provide more than 90% of the shelter beds available to single women and nearly half of all shelter beds in the Richmond area. CARITAS works with 15,000 volunteers and 150+ host congregations and together we create a safe and hospitable place for our most vulnerable neighbors.

Upon entering CARITAS, guests find not only the necessities for survival — they find the tools for success. Through the growing web of CARITAS volunteers, staff, and agency partners, guests get the help they need to get off the street, back on their feet, and on the path to self-sufficiency.

Opening in 2019, The CARITAS Center will bring all the solutions for breaking the cycles of homelessness and substance use under one roof.

The new CARITAS Center will include the following elements:

• The Healing Place for Women – 160-bed peer-based recovery program.
• CARITAS Works – Expanded state-of-the-art classroom space. 
• Furniture Bank – Warehouse space for Furniture Bank clients and volunteers. 
• 47 Sober-Living Apartments – For program graduates and qualifying community members.
• CARITAS Administrative Offices – All located efficiently under one roof. 
• Leased Office Space – For community partners

Christ Church has been a CARITAS partner, serving as a host church for more than 20 years. We have served by sheltering 45 guests for up to 3 weeks a year. As they transitioned to the new CARITAS Center, we were invited to serve on the CARITAS Planning Committee. Over the past 18 months, we met along with other CARITAS host church members, to develop a plan for congregations to remain involved.


On July 11 seven of us -- four parishioners and three clergy from Christ Church -- went down to 2220 Stockton Street, Richmond to tour the new CARITAS Center with Karen Stanley and Tiffany Terry. The demolition phase is complete, and they are beginning to build out the new facility, expected to open in early 2019. The space is incredible, and we got very excited as we envisioned our CARITAS friends in the new facility. A verse that kept popping into my head during the tour was Isaiah 43:19, “I am about to do a new thing…”

This is a big change for all of us. It will require creativity and the willingness to step out of our comfort zone to meet our CARITAS neighbors where they are. While this transition will facilitate their move to stability, our CARITAS friends still absolutely need our help, our kindness and mostly our love to navigate the hurdles life has placed in their path. And we all need each other to grow in our relationship with Jesus and for the opportunity to see Him in the eyes of a stranger.

 - Jenni Pandak serves on the Missions & Outreach Leadership Network. If you'd like to learn more about CARITAS and get involved in our mission efforts, please join the Missions & Outreach Interest Group in Realm or contact the Rev. Richard Pelkey.

AN UPDATE ON ROMAN AND HER FAMILY

Eight years ago, a very special relationship began.

Roman, her 6 children, and her now late husband, stayed at Christ Church as part of the CARITAS shelter program. After their stay, Roman's oldest son Shimendi reached out and asked for help and Christ Church said yes. We've been blessed to be in relationship with this family ever since.

We have great news to share -- Roman just passed her U.S. Citizenship exam! Now the whole family can enjoy the rights of U.S. citizenship.

Roman and her family are from Eritrea (country bordering Ethiopia). They were captured and held prisoner, waiting to be executed. Catholic Charities rescued them and brought them to the US where they have lived as Permanent Residents for the last 10 years. In Eritrea, women are not educated and Roman therefore does not read or write in her native language. Roman has worked very hard to study and pass the U.S. citizenship exam.

Roman and her oldest son, Shimendi work full-time to support their family. Efrem, the 2nd oldest, is entering his senior year of high school and would like to attend VCU after graduation.

"Roman is so excited!" said Jenni Pandak, who has been close to the family since the beginning. "This is an incredible family with an amazing story and I am so grateful that Christ Church had the faith to 'yes' when God called us to be His Hands and Feet."

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.  The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” - Leviticus 19:33-34 New International Version (NIV)

Roman and family after Shimendi passed his U.S. citizenship exam a few years ago.

Love Changes Everything

A witness by Jane Emrick

Our church family had the pleasure of a visit from Bishop Susan Goff for a visit on May 6. She began with a dynamic sermon, and stayed for lunch, fielding questions for over an hour in the Garage.

Her message was titled, “Love Changes Everything.” In it, she noted that “Love takes us on amazing journeys--terrifying and painful journeys.” There was not to be fear in the journey; but rather, the joy of following in our Lord’s footsteps. “Jesus’ love took him through the world. To death. Through death to Life beyond,” she said. And as we come to know him more, we see the complications and growth those changes bring.

Bishop Goff honored us with lots of extra time in the afternoon, and fielded questions while we enjoyed a snack lunch in the Garage. She addressed the issues of how our church can maintain relevancy in a world where the idea of “church” is so different from the way we grew up.

Bishop Goff spoke about reaching out to our fast-growing community, and that (especially for Episcopalians) this can require some re-thinking. “We may be uncomfortable with Evangelism,” she noted. “We may need training in reaching out to others.

“This community is growing, so we have a great opportunity for growth,” she added.

But, she cautioned, we must remember that “church community” is not about going into a building with a cross on the front, for an hour on Sunday morning. It’s more about people building a support system for those who need it. “If the Church budget is spent on buildings, then to some extent, we’ve lost the mission of Christ,” she said.

One sad note, in response to a question, is that a few Virginia Episcopal parishes are closing. Bishop Goff was quick to add that churches that are closing are “mostly in towns and communities that are dying.” And although some congregations are moving on, she said, of course, “the Church isn’t going to die.”

Our Bishop took some time answering a question about the increasing diversity in our church, and how we might address needs of a population that may have been marginalized by other churches. Bishop Goff was adamant in her insistence that we learn to embrace a changing population of believers, with diverse backgrounds and varying spiritual needs. “It’s a different world we live in now,” she said. We must make the effort to learn where people are coming from, and to help them find faith from that place. “Jesus calls us to love people as they are...pulling us to be more than what we are.

“Part of what the church is striving to do, is to give everyone a voice. That’s hard. It can get messy. But the only voice Jesus wanted to silence, was satan’s.”

Bishop Goff encouraged us to be open to a future that looks and works differently than what we may be used to. She referred back to her sermon point that “love changes everything.” She said that if we love, we must change. If we want to spread God’s love, we must understand the needs of those who seek it.

“I’m excited to see what the church will look like in 50 years. I’m kind of sorry that I won’t be around to see that,” she said. She noted that the church community of the future, probably “won’t look like churches of today.

“People choose church now because they seek community,” she noted. She added that that may make our church look more like the early Church in the book of Acts. That early church didn’t rely on a specific “look” or building, or worship on a certain day in a certain way; but rather, was much more fluid as it grew to meet believers’ needs, while following Jesus’ teachings at its core.

But, she said, whether we’re in a building, sharing a space, or re-designing a community, God will be in the midst if we allow his leading. “When it’s not about issues, but about people--we seem to have more room to change.” Bishop Goff left us with prayer and encouragement to embrace our future with open minds and open hearts. Thanks for your loving words!

“Love can require sacrifice”: sleep, money, time, pride, old practices. Bishop Goff encouraged us to follow Jesus’ example--to be like potter’s clay, and to seek growth as we learn to love more and more as he did.